Just a few weeks to go now until Subhumans hit the country. They’ll visit Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide before heading over to New Zealand. This week in The Hotseat we catch up with singer Dick Lucas. Expand this post to take a read of his answers and re-cap the tour dates. Tickets are available via Oztix.
THE BASICS
Name : Dick Lucas
Band : Subhumans
Job In Band : Singer, lyrics
Website Address : www.citizenfish.com [two of us are in both bands]
HOME
Hometown : Bath, UK
Hometown is best known for : Roman ruins, roaming tourists.
Best venue in your hometown : Green Park Tavern, now run by the local Pyrate Punks.
Favourite show you’ve seen in your hometown : that would be seeing the Rhythmites and Radical Dance Faction playing the now-defunct Longacre Tavern, superb mix of dub and reggae and skanking tunes, and a great atmosphere.
Favourite show you’ve played in your hometown : That would be the first show we did having decided to reform after 10 years silence, in ‘98 at the Porter Butt [now sadly defunct]- it only holds 150 people so we did it by localised invite-only-plus-one tickets, so it was packed with people we knew, the atmosphere was mental, very hot n sweaty, and playing the old songs again for the first time in years at full volume, it was – amazing!
THE BAND
How did the band first come to exist? I was mates with Bruce and [ex-bassist] Grant, and when our bands [the Mental and Stupid Humans] split up at roughly the same time, we formed a new one- this was 1980.
How long has the band been going? 2012-1980 is….wow 32 years?! less 10 years gap of not playing.
Any particular story behind the name? Bruce had me and Grant on board for this new band with no name, we needed a drummer, he used to be a Stupid Human, so we needed one more Human- we were ‘sub-Human’- then we got a drummer and pluralised it!
What’s your most recent release? Tell us a little about it… Well due to the fact our drummer lives in a different country to the rest of us, we dont get to create new songs very often- our latest release was 5 years ago! Internal Riot, an album that had to stand up to all the earlier ones, which most people say it does.
Got a personal stand out achievement of your band to date? Keeping the same lineup for 29 years without losing it!
OFF THE STAGE
What was your first introduction to music that made you think seriously about playing it? Punk rock coming into existence with its basic message that ‘anyone can do this’.
Any particular band / album or song that you personally credit as a major influence? ‘Bored Teenagers’ by the Adverts was the first punk song i heard, and i was blown away by its directness its brevity and relevance.
Your first band name, and what style did you play? The Mental, formed at school, not much actual ‘style’, ha! badly played repetitive shouty outoftune punk rock, it was great fun!
Most prized music related item you own? A copy of the Bears single ‘On Me’, a wonderful song, and the single was really hard to track down.
When you’re not doing band related stuff, what are you usually found doing? Making up cryptic crosswords, painting.
The thing you most look forward to just before a tour is… Being on tour! The time just before a tour is spent panicing making sure ive not forgotten anything.
The thing you least look forward to before a tour is… The pile of emails i’ll come home to.
ON THE STAGE
When on offer, what’s your one must have item on the rider? A bottle of Jack Daniels.
Most memorable show you’ve played? and why? All the shows at the now-closed Showcase in Corona [USA] were excellent, with the most enthusiastic crowds ever seen, a good-sized stage not too far off the ground, a great sound- thats where we made our one live record.
Got a favourite song to play live? ‘Reason for Existence’ comes to mind, a very powerful song with a totally abrupt ending that channels all the energy into the last note, it leaves me reeling no matter how often its played.
Any embarrassing on stage moments come to mind? Forgetting the first half of the last verse of ‘From the Cradle to the Grave’ in front of a thousand people when we supported DKs in 84- its a 16-minute song and the last verse is yknow kind of important to Not Forget! I was miming ‘whats the next line?!’ to Bruce, who had no idea what i was on about!
Any pre-show rituals? Ha! I used to spend way too much effort soaping my hair up into spikes before going on stage, til I realised that it just sweated back down into my eyes [owch!]
What do you find is the hardest aspect of touring in a band today? Getting a good gig on the first 3 days of the week, people can’t afford to go out much so they prefer weekends. And staying healthy, germs like going on tour too.
RIGHT NOW
Last song you listened to? ‘Skarren’ by Anti-Vigilante.
Last album you acquired? ‘Secure Beneath the Watchful Eyes’ by Anti-Vigilante- think LOCrack plus sax, a UK band who played with us on tour, high energy indeed.
Which band or album is currently on high rotation? The next soon-out album by Citizen Fish, ‘Dancing on Spikes’ [plugging my own stuff, outrageous!]- 6 songs of high energy punk/ska.
Tell us an up and coming band or artist you think we should go and listen to right now? Global Parasite are a superb political punk band, whose 1st album ‘Momento Mori’ is full of diversity and dynamics rarely heard these days, full of punch and with well constructed lyrics.
What’s on the cards for the next few months for the band? Off round bits of europe next week for 2 weeks, then the Rebellion festival in Blackpool, a weekend gig in Czech Republic, then this Aus/NZ tour in September, busy summer coming up!
IF ONLY…
You can pick any one album for your band to cover in full, what would it be and why? Hmmm, Out Of Step by Minor Threat, i’d love to have a crack at singing those songs!
You can pick any one band / artist to cover one of your albums in full, what would it be, and why? I’d love to hear what EasyStar AllStars would make of any of our albums, they did a mental dub version of ‘Dark side of the Moon’ [improving it greatly!] by Pink Floyd.
One band you wish you were able to see live but never had the chance? Sex Pistols.
One venue you have yet to play that you would love to? Somewhere in Russia.
A headline tour overseas comes up, tell us two bands you’d take along to support your band. World Inferno friendship Society, and The Adverts [if they could reform somewhat!]
PLUG TIME
Got any final words? We’re touring near you soon.
